PA Bill Would Give Gaming Investigation Powers To Attorney General

HARRISBURG (CBS) – State House Republicans are renewing their effort to pass a bill that would shift the investigation powers of the Gaming Control Board to the state attorney general’s office.

One reason for moving investigations from the gaming board to the attorney general’s office is the belief that, at the time licenses were awarded, the board’s Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement, or BIE, was not privy to information state police had about a successful Poconos casino applicant, Louis DeNaples, because law enforcement is reluctant to share information with civil agencies.

But Cyrus Pitre, the gaming board’s top enforcement attorney, told the House Gaming Oversight Committee that even if gaming investigators are moved to the AG’s office, criminal investigators will still be reluctant to share information with them.

“You can put BIE in the attorney general’s office, but it’s still going to be the same wall. Okay? And I’ll be here five years from now telling you ‘I told you so,’” Pitre says.

House Republicans were thwarted for years while in the minority, but are aggressively pursuing the change now that they have a majority.